Team

John Payne • Executive Director and Treasurer

John Payne received his B.A. in history from Washington University in Saint Louis in 2005. John spent the next four years teaching high school in both rural Missouri and St. Louis, before leaving to pursue a career combining his passions for public policy and writing. Mr. Payne worked as a research assistant at the Show-Me Institute in Saint Louis, MO, from 2010 through the summer of 2011. He joined Show-Me Cannabis Regulation’s board of directors in November 2011 and served as the Eastern Missouri Campaign Manager during the 2012 campaign. In addition to his duties at Show-Me Cannabis Regulation, John serves on the Board of Directors of Alumni for Liberty. His writing has appeared in the Journal of Libertarian Studies, Young American Revolution, The American Conservative, and Reason, as well as newspapers across the state of Missouri.

Email is strongly preferred; if possible, please email Mr. Payne first to schedule a time to talk. His office hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Amber Langston • Deputy Director

Amber Langston is a Missouri native and outspoken advocate for social, economic and environmental justice. Ms. Langston served as the campaign manager for Columbia, Missouri’s two successful municipal cannabis initiatives in 2004 while studying rural sociology at the University of Missouri. Amber has served as an outreach director and international liaison for Students for Sensible Drug Policy in Washington, DC, as field support for Americans for Safe Access in Oakland, CA, and as media liaison for California’s Proposition 19 to tax and regulate cannabis in November 2010. Amber returned to Missouri in 2011 to lead Show-Me Cannabis Regulation, the state-wide effort to legalize marijuana in the Show-Me State. After failing to qualify that petition for the November 2012 ballot, Ms. Langston initiated her work with Women Against Prohibition, an organization dedicated to promoting women in politics and ending marijuana prohibition, where she currently serves as Executive Director.

Dan Viets • Chairman

Dan Viets is a criminal defense lawyer on the Board of Directors for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, and has served as the Missouri State Coordinator for NORML for many years. He is a former president of the Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and has served as chairman for the Mid-Missouri ACLU, an organization in which he has been very active over the years. Dan has received numerous awards and recognition for his work as a civil libertarian and humanitarian, and hosts a weekly radio program on KOPN in Columbia.

Maranda Reynolds • Secretary

Maranda Reynolds is a newcomer to the movement. She begin her activism in November of 2011 when she was elected as secretary of Springfield NORML. Mrs. Reynolds is currently president of Springfield Cannabis Regulation, a group that aims to decriminalize possession of small amounts of cannabis in Springfield.